VI COMMANDO

As you may now be aware, I am in the process of authoring a series of two historical novels dedicated to the men of No 6 (Army) Commando with the working title of "The Six".

Why? Because there appear to be many, many books on Nos. 3 & 4 (Army) Commandos as well as countless numbers of printed works describing the exploits of the Royal Marine Commandos through the years however, search hard because there are few works that even mention the exploits of No.6 (Army) Commando in whole, or in part.

My key motivation for deciding to engage in this project - which is now some five years in research - was primarily because my Grandfather, Cpl. Harold Raymond Winrow, was a proud member of No.6 (Army) Commando from 1941 until 1945, and had enthralled me over the years with tales of his exploits and the exploits of men that he still considered 'mates'. He enthralled me with tales of 'Zook', 'Herman the German', 'Jock', 'Mills Bomb Roberts', 'Speedy', and all the rest of the Unit, and I recall with immense pride standing by the No.6 Commando memorial at Le Plein (Normandy) as he took the salute from a troop of serving French Marines on 6th June 2000 and him then being congratulated by a veteran officer of No.3 Commando for his service. The officer's words still fill me with emmotion today when he described that he and his men of No.3 Commando had taken such comfort in the days immediately following D-Day that they were in the line with the legendary fighting veterans of North Africa and he described with some careful words what he and his men had thought of No.6 Commando....the men that would 'never give up, never surrender and never desert them.....if they stood strong we knew we would be okay',

In order to capture with honour what the unit meant to the men who served within it, it has been necessary to engage in substative research, referencing and cross-referencing events and accounts, visiting the battlefields, searching archives, interviewing veterans and collating thousands of pages of notes and hundreds of photographs. Whilst daunting a task this has very much become a labour of love and I am grateful that the surviving veterans and their families have shown me such hospitality and friendship along the way. The research phase is nearing its end, although I know that there is so much more that I could discover.....and, unfortunately, so much more that will sadly never be known. What I can promise though will be a story that includes real life heroic exploits, tense dramatic moments, tragic episodes of brutal waste that is the unfortunate course of 'total war' and sometimes ’lighter hearted’ almost comedic moments from the men of this brave and tight-knit group of army veterans.

Theirs was the might and tenacity of youth. They possessed the energy and resilience to risk everything for freedom. But most of all what truly is emerging from their story is that they were just ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and through that they, themselves, became extraordinary people.